The Effects of Long Term Tumour Diagnosis and the Disease of Cancer - Essay Example

I've found that not only does this disease place a strain on the patient but on those managing the patients care as well, myself included. That is why it is imperative to have managing goals obvious in the treatment regimen so that there is always an avid awareness of what the next step of treatment is going to be. This is a positive reinforcement not only for the patient, but for my role as the assisting nurse as well, along with the other medical professionals caring for him or her. Through my years of experience I've learned that breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death for women who develop a form of this disease.

The treatments are varied depending upon the individuals own diagnosis and symptoms. Furthermore, medical professionals, especially nurses like me can have a difficult time managing the care regimen of women with breast cancer simply due to the fact that many women's perceptions of their risks and management of the disease are highly varied (McDonald 2002, p.183). Also, being faced with a diagnosis such as breast cancer is scary and an individual develops high anxiety and many fears. This is where the medical staff such as nurses and other medical professionals should provide counselling and understanding to ensure that the management of the disease does not interfere with the patients' mental health, which can be very difficult to do (Aldridge-Clanton 1998, p. 109). I've ran into this problem innumerable amounts of time, especially in regards to how they feel about their bodies and what they are afraid their life will be like following the treatment process.

Many patients state that just deciding on what treatment to choose can promote fear and worry in their minds. Also physicians can complicate the problem if they don't manage the care effectively. Therefore there can not be instances such as conflicting opinions among physicians because it only complicates the treatment for the patient (Aldridge-Clanton 1998, p.110). Furthermore, another issue that can concrete upon the problems is the idea women have about breast cancer and being diagnosed with it.

Much of this is due to the fact of the idea that women have of breast cancer, of it basically being a hereditary form of cancer and those who do not have a family history of it don't tend to feel screening and other routine testing is much of a necessity. Therefore, I've found that I need to provide affirmation to many of the patients that anyone is susceptible to developing breast cancer, even those without a hereditary history. Sometimes this can be hard to do in gaining my patients understanding.

Therefore, many patients false assumptions can lead to a variety of problems as medical history can attest too. Although 20% of women can have a family history of breast cancer only 5% to 10% are actually caused by the hereditary gene. Therefore it is imperative for nurses (such as myself) and medical care providers to stress the importance of mandatory screening and check-up's for breast cancer among all age groups and ethnicities